Compounding

The following terms are never compounded in the KJV: To day, to morrow, to night, any thing, every thing, any one, every one, mean time, mean while (this may catch the reader off-guard in one place: "and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing" Rom 2:15).

The PCE compounds terms very frequently, even more than we do normally in the present day. It helps us more easily spot how words are grouped into phrases within a sentence (as you see with the word "of" (G), it's not always trivial). To name a few: firstbegotten, firstborn, firstripe, daytime, mealtime, sunrising, longwinged, handywork, longsuffering, vainglory.

The 1611 KJV compounds terms very rarely; none of the examples above are compounded in 1611. There are instead a set of terms compounded in 1611 which were later split up: Assoon[e], aswell, shalbe, wilbe, figtree, northwind, eastwind, horsegate, sheepgate, draughthouse, wisemen, youngmen.

Significance of Compounding?

Given any particular 2-word phrase in the KJV, it may be sometimes compounded and sometimes spaced apart.
Should we treat the 2 forms as 2 distinct Terms? Would it be inordinate to always do so? or, to never do so?
Let's look to the PCE, the perfected standard, for insight as to how rigorously we should handle this convention.

In total, 33 Terms in the PCE occur as both a compound and as a 2-word phrase (that is, the presence or absence of a space does not create a differentiation):

5 Compounds we find to be separated only due to Italics:

  1. Can [not] (Isa 38:18)
  2. hail [stones] (Psa 18:12&13)
  3. head [stone] (Psa 118:22)
  4. [high] ways* (Lev 26:22) (* "High way" in the singular also exists; see below.)
  5. life [time] (Lev 18:18)

7 additional Terms are Separated Exactly Once:

  1. Housetop (7x vs. Psa 102:7)
  2. noonday (9x vs. Zep 2:4)
  3. pruninghooks (3x vs. Isa 18:5)
  4. vinedressers (4x vs. 2Ch 26:10)
  5. watchtower (2x vs. 2Ch 20:24)
  6. wellpleasing (2x vs. Col 3:20)
  7. winepresses (3x vs. Neh 13:15).

5 Terms are Compounded Exactly Once:

  1. Mercy seat (26x vs. Heb 9:5)
  2. over much (2x vs. 2Co 2:7)
  3. resting place (3x vs. Jer 50:6)
  4. sweet smelling (2x vs. Eph 5:2)
  5. well favoured (6x vs. Nah 3:4)

9 Terms are Once Separated AND Once Compounded (which form would be the preferred/default?):

  1. Eye sight (2Sa 22:25) & eyesight (Psa 18:24)
  2. fallow deer (Deu 14:5) & fallowdeer (1Ki 4:23)
  3. first begotten (Rev 1:5) & firstbegotten (Heb 1:6)
  4. free man (Rev 6:15) & freeman (1Co 7:22)
  5. vain glory (Gal 5:26) & vainglory (Php 2:3)
  6. winter house (Amo 3:15) & winterhouse (Jer 36:22)
  7. hoar frost (Exo 16:14) & hoarfrost (Psa 147:16)
  8. moth eaten (Job 13:28) & motheaten (Jam 5:2)
  9. sling stones* (Zec 9:15) & slingstones (Job 41:28) (*There is a non-related occurrence of "sling stones" Jdg 20:16)

7 Terms are Mixed Compounded and Separated

  1. Highway (16 vs 2)
  2. evildoers (12 vs 2), evildoer (2 vs 1)
  3. daytime (7 vs 3)
  4. dwellingplaces (5 vs 3), dwellingplace (3 vs 19)
  5. handbreadth (3 vs 4)
  6. holyday (2 vs 3)
  7. wayside (2 vs 9)

Meanwhile, 67 Pairs of Terms are Always Differentiated by Spacing:

7 of these pairs could be ambiguous as to whether they're differentiated, but they are indeed. (E.g. the "good man" may well be a "goodman," but that just isn't the focus in the context.)

  1. A sleep (Psa 90:5) & asleep (16x)
  2. cast away (16x) & castaway (1Co 9:27)
  3. first ripe (2x) & firstripe (4x)
  4. good man* (Mat 12:35, Luk 6:45) & goodman (6x)
  5. some time* (Col 3:7) & sometime (Col 1:21, 1Pe 3:20)
  6. in to (44x) & into (2015x)
  7. up on (14x) & upon (2764x)

The remaining 60: A base, a board, a bound, a broad, a far, a foot, a gain, a like, a live, a long, a loud, a part, a piece, a right, a rising, a scribe, a side, a thirst, a void, a way, be come, be gotten, be half, be held, be long, be loved, be set, be sought, by word, for as much, for so much, forth with, here by, here in, here with, hither to, in corruption, in deed, in gathering, in ward, like wise, over lay, over running, pass over, straight way, there about, there at, there by, there from, there in, therein to, there of, there on, there out, there to, there unto, there upon, there with, where in, where to.

15 more Definitely Differentiated, for Completeness (or humour): A gate, as king, as sure, as under, be at, beg in, he at, her on, in tents, me an, me at, not able, of ten, see the, so on. (Each of these 15, when combined, yield totally unrelated words. They're included just to demonstrate completeness of results.)

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License